Nine people, including Air Canada employees, are facing charges in connection to the $20-million Toronto Pearson airport gold heist that was meticulously carried out exactly one year ago, Peel Regional Police said.
Peel Regional Police announced the arrests with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau at a press conference on Wednesday. The joint investigation, dubbed “Project 24K,” is short for 24 carats of gold.
The nine accused were identified, including 25-year-old Durante King-Mclean, 34-year-old Prasath Paramalingam and 36-year-old Archit Grover, all of Brampton, among others. King-Mclean and Grover remain wanted Canada-wide.
Authorities confirmed some of these individuals were indicted in the U.S. for a conspiracy to engage in international firearms trafficking.
U.S. officials became involved in Sept. 2023, a few months after the gold heist at Pearson airport, when one of the suspects, identified as King-Mclean, was pulled over for suspected motor vehicle violations in Pennsylvania. Police determined that King-Mclean, who fled the scene on foot, had been in the country illegally.
Responding officers searched his rental vehicle and located 65 firearms that were allegedly destined to be illegally smuggled into Canada. Two of those firearms were fully automatic and considered machine guns under federal law, U.S. authorities noted, and 11 of the firearms were determined to be stolen.
The U.S. Attorney’s office confirmed that Paramalingam was involved in the alleged firearm trafficking with King-Mclean and had conspired with the accused since April 2023, around the same time as the Pearson gold heist.
Investigators allege Paramalingam orchestrated King-Mclean’s illegal entry into the U.S. and arranged funding for King-Mclean to purchase the various firearms which he obtained in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere.
Grover and Edwards were charged as accessories after the fact for their alleged assistance to King-Mclean. This includes concealing evidence concerning King-Mclean’s attempted gun smuggling and providing co-conspirators with information.
Details of 2023 gold heist at Pearson airport
The flight landed just before 4 p.m. on April 17, 2023. Police have said the shipments, believed to have been stored in a container roughly five to six square feet, were deposited at an Air Canada warehouse at the airport two hours later.
Peel Regional Police officers tracked down a transport truck that had the stolen gold stored, which was present at Wednesday’s press conference.
A lawsuit filed against Air Canada by American security company Brink’s alleged that a thief presented a forged document to collect about $23.8 million in goods from a holding facility at Pearson airport.
Brink’s statement of claim alleged that Air Canada staff handed over 400 kilos of gold, worth more than $20 million, plus nearly US$2 million in cash to the thief.
The company alleged that Air Canada employees failed to properly examine and authenticate the document shared by an “unidentified individual” during the planned heist. Air Canada denied the allegations and claimed it had not taken out insurance on the valuable cargo.
